Monsieur Chateaubriand. François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768–1848), of noble Breton extraction, Royalist and writer of perfect prose.

[333]. Merrimee. J. F. L. Mérimée. See Memoirs of William Hazlitt, I. 87, 89. See also vol. VI. Table Talk, note to p. 319.

[334]. Foregone conclusion. Othello, III. 3.

ESSAY XXIX. SIR WALTER SCOTT, RACINE, AND SHAKESPEAR

[336]. The still small voice is wanting. 1 Kings xix. 12.

[337]. Four lagging winters. King Richard II., I. 3. [‘End in a word.’]

Come home to the bosoms. Bacon, Dedication to Essays.

The perilous stuff. Macbeth, V. 3.

Give sorrow words. Macbeth, IV. 3.

[338]. Gabble most brutishly. The Tempest, I. 2.